Furniture



July 20, 1937.

J. FILIBERTO FURNITURE Filed Nov. 21, 1936 JOHN F/Z/BEETO \NVENTOR ATT RNEY Patented July 20, 1937 sure STA TET OFFIQE ll Claim.

This invention relates to furniture, generally, and more particularly, articles such as chairs, having frames composed of supporting legs or posts, spaced apart and connected by interposed rails or bars.

It is difficult, without making them too heavy, to construct such frames so that they will not work loose with long continued, hard usage and it is an object of this invention to provide a practical means of bracing and reinforcing such furniture without adding to the bulk or appreciably increasing the weight of the same, and which means may be readily incorporated in the furniture structure without impairing the appearance of the same and which, if occasion requires, may be easily used at any time to bring the parts of the frame back to their original tight-fitting condition.

Further objects and the novel features of construction, combinations and relations of parts by which the objects are attained, will appear as the specification proceeds.

The drawing accompanying and forming part of such specification illustrates a single practical embodiment of the invention, but it will be understood that the structure is capable of modification in various ways, all within the true intent and broad scope of the invention as hereinafter defined and claimed.

Figure l is a perspective View of a chair having the invention embodied therein.

Figure 2 is a broken and part sectional View, the sectioned parts appearing as on substantially the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

The chair shown comprises a simple form of furniture frame made up of corner legs or posts 3, 5, 5, 6, spaced by interposed rails or bars 7, ti, 3, it, connected usually by mortise and tenon or dowel joints, such as indicated, for instance, at l E, Figure 2.

To positively and firmly hold these parts in such relation, turnbuckles are employed, made up in each instance, of oppositely threaded rods, bolts or wires 12, 13, adjustably connected by turnbuckle couplings it.

These turnbuckle rods are shown as extended inwardly through bores 15 in the chair legs in line with the interposed frame bars and as having flat heads Hi seating in shallow recesses I! in the outer faces of the leg members. These seats or recesses are shown as being closed over by covers l8, which may be of the same material as the frame or be in the nature of ornamental buttons or caps.

The frame bars I, 8, 9, 10 are suitably recessed,

as indicated at ill, to accommodate the turnbuckle connections, it being sufficient for usual constructions to simply shoulder and reduce in thickness the lower portions of these bars, providing as shown in Figure 2, an inverted L-shaped cross section, which will receive the turnbuckle in its angular outline.

This construction provides in effect an open sided longitudinal groove in the inner face of the bar freely receiving the turnbuckle so that the screw coupling may be turned, as necessary, to draw the legs together firmly abutted against the interposed bar.

As each one of the turnbuckles merely serves as a tension member, securing two of the legs against the intervening shouldered bar, these turnbuckles can be quite small and light. While ordinarily the link portions would be made of light rod or wire stock, they may be formed of tubular stock and may be of aluminum or other light materials.

As shown most clearly in Figure 2, the turnbuckles at the sides and those at the front and back may be offset vertically so that one set of connections is clear of and does not interfere in any way with any other set of connections.

With suitable covers it over the heads of the turnbuckle rods, the turnbuckles are entirely and completely concealed in the ordinary use of the furniture, but if any looseness develops at any time, this can be immediately remedied by merely setting up one or more of the turnbuckle couplings, as may be required. Thus, in the case of shrinkage, such as will normally occur with extended drying out and seasoning of the wood, this may be compensated for and taken up even before the parts have actually become loose. If a rod or coupling member should break, repairs can quickly and easily be made by simply unscrewing or releasing the turnbuckle coupling and driving out one of the rod members to permit replacement of the broken or injured part. The wide head of the rod member ordinarily will displace the cover l8 over the same, without injuring such cover, which latter subsequently may be replaced. Thus, if repairs become necessary, the same are so simple that ordinarily they may be made by any unskilled person.

I claim:

A furniture frame of the character disclosed, comprising four corner posts, four interposed spacing and connecting bars between the same, said corner posts and intervening bars having substantially horizontal open-ended passages extending straight therethrough the passages in the spacing bars being pen at the inside and bottom of the bars, the openings in each leg being vertically spaced and having recesses in the outer faces of the corner posts, opposed reversely screw- 5 threaded straight turn-buckle rods entered in opposite ends of said straight through passages and having flat abutment ends at the outer ends of the same located in said recesses in the outer faces of. the corner posts, tu'rn buckles adjust ably coupling the inner ends of opposed turn-' 7 buckle rods and located in enlarged portions of said straight through passages in the interposed spacing and connecting bars and covers over said fiat abutment heads located in said recesses.

JOHN FILIBERTO. 

